Ezel got the idea from a teahouse in Hoi An, Vietnam, staffed entirely by deaf and mute people. He and Richard Robinson opened Old Spike as a roastery in 2014, and Lucy Floriana, the first barista hired, came to the job from homelessness. Staff also get housing support and clinical psychology help.
A Probat LB5 roasts seasonal single-origin coffee, and Eden Reforestation plants a tree for every bag sold.